While jogging through Ulumay Wildlife Sanctuary the other day, Justin Owens saw a flash of white on the water that made him stop suddenly. As he walked closer, he realized an egret was dangling above the mangroves, unable to move.
“[He] saw a snowy egret
entangled in fishing line,” Wild Florida Rescue (WFR) wrote on Facebook.
Owens quickly called WFR’s hotline and described the desperate scene. WFR volunteers Lorraine and Dee raced to help, but as they faced the mile-long walk from the park’s entrance to the egret, Owens decided to try freeing the little guy on his own, “so the bird wouldn’t have to wait.”
“While he waited for rescuers Lorraine and Dee, he attempted to rescue the bird, and he unfortunately ended up falling into the water,” WFR wrote.
Thankfully, Owens was uninjured after falling into the water, and the WFR rescuers arrived shortly after. Lorraine and Dee quickly devised a plan to free the trapped bird, then waded into the mangroves with their rescue equipment.
“Lorraine had to climb a tree, and Dee sawed off a branch to make the rescue a success,” WFR wrote.
Owens stayed close as Lorraine and Dee worked to free the bird, choosing to help the team instead of continuing on his run. The Good Samaritan may not have been a part of WFR’s rescue squad, but his presence made all the difference.
“It took the three of us to make sure we safely got the egret out of the water and untangled,” Dee wrote in a Facebook comment.
You can see more pictures of the rescue here:
After a few heart-racing moments, the team finally untangled the bird. Lorraine and Dee thanked Owens for his help, then walked a mile back to their vehicle with the egret safely in their arms.
They swiftly shuttled the egret to WFR’s headquarters, where a veterinary team gave him a thorough checkup. Thankfully, he did not have any life-threatening injuries and would just need a little extra care before being released.
While the WFR staff nurses the egret back to health, they remain grateful that the little guy survived such a traumatic ordeal, all thanks to an unsuspecting Good Samaritan who stopped to help.
“This was such a memorable rescue,” Dee wrote.
